2015 Arlington County Board General Election – How They Stand

MIKE MCMENAMIN
http://mike4countyboard.com/

1) Do you ride a bike? If so, tell us about your riding.
Yes, I ride a bike. Today, I ride mostly for recreational purposes. At one time, I rode everyday for exercise, so I am well aware of how fortunate we are as a community to have great bike trails.

2) What do you see as the role of cycling in Arlington?
The role of cycling is very important, as many depend on it to get to work and it is their primary form of transportation. There are also many citizens in the county that ride for recreational purposes.

My own experience is that it is far easier to ride your bike into places such as Clarendon in order to run errands because of the parking situation in the County.

3) What should the county do, if anything, to get more people to bike?
If more people biked it would take congestion off our streets. In order to do this, we need to ensure a safe experience for riders when they are off the trails. That means that we need to keep our streets wide enough to allow for bicycles, cars, and buses.

4) How would you approach the decision making process on a project like the Washington Blvd Trail which puts two Arlington priorities at odds? (In this case cycling infrastructure and tree canopy)
I learned from Wash Cycle that the trail is expected to cost about $1.7 million and that the initial path would have necessitated digging up hundreds of mature trees

It looks as if the County Board will approve a realignment of the trail to put it closer to Towers Park and S. Rolfe Street, north of Columbia Pike. This is a very good compromise has it benefits bikers and saves the trees.

5) Many board members have been supportive of cycling, but few are true champions. Would you be a supportive board member or a champion?
I would hope to be a true champion.

6) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support removing parking to install bike infrastructure?
As I stated above, we need to ensure that our roads are wide enough to ensure biker safety. However, parking is at a premium in certain areas of the county. I think we would need to look at the situation on a case by case basis.

7) Do you support “road diets” as Arlington has done in the past on Shirlington Drive and is installing on Wilson Blvd this summer which remove travel lanes on streets to provide accommodations for other modes of travel like bicycles?
Yes, in certain instances where it would make sense and it would need to be done on a case by case basis, as every road is different and has differing amounts of traffic.

If elected, what do you hope to have accomplished to make Arlington a better place for cycling by the end of your first term?
I would like to work with the cycling community and listen to your thoughts on what the County can do better. Then set a course of action that makes sense to the biker community and our overall transportation goals in the County.

9) Is there anything else you would like to share with the Arlington cycling community?
I think providing a safe experience for bikers is essential to getting folks to ride their bikes. A took a nasty fall a few years ago on a wet morning on the wooden bridge under the Roosevelt Bridge. I think we need to ensure that surfaces and traffic allow for a safe experience.

KATIE CRISTOL
http://www.katiecristol.com/

1) Do you ride a bike? If so, tell us about your riding.
I’m a novice biker — and the proud owner of a Phoenix Bike — and bike generally for recreation and back and forth from my neighborhood up to Columbia Pike for shopping and dining. (Although because I work from home, technically most of my transportation of any form is for recreation.)

2) What do you see as the role of cycling in Arlington?
I see cycling – and transit alternatives in general – as part of an interlocking set of planning and growth strategies. For example, I see biking as a possible driver of economic redevelopment on Columbia Pike (because we know that bike commuters are more likely to stop and patronize local businesses), and even as a possible way of tackling housing affordability in our urban villages in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor (because parking-space minimums increase rent by restricting housing supply, and having more transit alternatives – like bike infrastructure – makes it feasible for Arlington to grant flexibilities on parking minimums).

A robust cycling culture and infrastructure in Arlington also allows us to score high on “livability” indices for groups like young professionals and retirees, and to stand out as the healthiest community in Virginia.

3) What should the county do, if anything, to get more people to bike?
My read is that Arlington currently does a good job supporting those who already have decided to bike (e.g. prioritizing plowing commuter bike trails during snowstorms), and has made some great efforts to tackle some of the barriers to biking – particularly with its investments in Capital BikeShare, which addresses a number of convenience issues that might otherwise keep residents from biking.

To go further, we should pursue protected lanes (where consistent with community vision for redevelopment, as on the Pike or potentially emerging in the Lee Highway Alliance community process), to help encourage less-confident bikers to try a bike commute or take more bike trips for shopping and recreation. Beyond that, I look forward to working with the bike community to learn more about the obstacles they see to biking, and the right planning and policy steps to address them at the County level.

4) How would you approach the decision making process on a project like the Washington Blvd Trail which puts two Arlington priorities at odds? (In this case cycling infrastructure and tree canopy)
This is a great question with resonance well beyond just the bike community. In general, I’m always inclined to ask for more context before accepting that there are only two sides or options to an issue and picking one (for example, based on what I’ve heard while knocking doors in the Penrose neighborhood, the Washington Boulevard Trail debate was as much about concurrent VDOT undertakings in the area as about “bikes vs. trees”). As a County Board member, it’s not always possible to knock on doors before every vote, but I do believe Board members can communicate to staff – via the County Manager – that they’d like evidence of broader contextual consideration before deciding on a recommendation. I think it’s also fair to expect that Board members visit sites, walk proposed trails, etc. before making major decisions (as a way of gathering that context and asking thoughtful questions), and that’s a commitment I would make.

5) Many board members have been supportive of cycling, but few are true champions. Would you be a supportive board member or a champion?
I aspire to be a champion. To me, the difference between support and championship is where an issue fits into a leader’s overall vision for Arlington. And although I can’t guarantee that I will always agree with bike advocates on each issue that may come before the Board, I do see biking as a strategy for economic redevelopment and affordability (as detailed in Question #1) and therefore will actively look for ways to further biking in our community.

6) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support removing parking to install bike infrastructure?
In some circumstances, I think this could be a good choice. Criteria I’d consider would include:
• Whether there is other mass transportation infrastructure to absorb resident (and worker, and consumer) transit needs to help offset the removed parking;
• Coherence with the land use plans (e.g. sector plans; revitalization plans; neighborhood conservation plans) in the area or neighborhood

7) Do you support “road diets” as Arlington has done in the past on Shirlington Drive and is installing on Wilson Blvd this summer which remove travel lanes on streets to provide accommodations for other modes of travel like bicycles?
I do support the objectives of “road diets”: accommodating bike and pedestrian lanes on our roads without diverting traffic onto smaller, neighborhood streets.

With respect to Wilson Boulevard, I think we’re all still learning from the results of this summer’s paving and markings (my understanding is that staff will prepare a report next spring analyzing results of the first phase, which will be instructive not only for the future of Wilson Blvd, but for other possible projects around the County). But I’m encouraged by a couple of components of the project. First, it illustrates that “Complete Streets” really are about ensuring pedestrian as well as cyclist safety so that residents can feel comfortable on the roads with their children, pets, etc., as well as empowered to travel by bike. Second, I appreciate that the Bluemont Civic Association played a leading role in the Wilson Boulevard road diet project. With any future road diet projects, engaging the surrounding neighborhoods (through the Neighborhood Conservation Planning process and other mechanisms) will be critical, both to ensure buy-in for the changes and to ensure that multi-modal road improvements work in harmony with other neighborhood plans for economic re-development, beautification, etc.

If elected, what do you hope to have accomplished to make Arlington a better place for cycling by the end of your first term?
I’ve spoken on the campaign trail about making it easier to “bike the Pike” — I know the County is already laying the groundwork for some of these efforts with the Pike Multimodal Plan, so I hope to build on those efforts and partner with the robust community of Pike advocates, neighbors and business to achieve some of that vision. I’d also hope to help broker relationships between bike advocates and other stakeholders along the Pike — including schools and family groups, and low-income and new American groups — to help ensure that our vision for “bikability” on the Pike addresses some of the obstacles to biking that these groups often experience.

9) Is there anything else you would like to share with the Arlington cycling community?
Thanks for the opportunity to learn about your priorities in this questionnaire; I hope we’ll continue the conversation.

@aclement65@hotmail.com 125557 wrote:

I presume that I’m one of the two new candidates referred to below. I never received the candidate questionnaire.

Audrey Clement

Audrey, I sent two emails to the address listed on your website info@audreyclement.org perhaps that address is not working? I’m happy to post your responses if you’d like to send them over!

@aclement65@hotmail.com 125560 wrote:

I think it’s unjust to deny a candidate an opportunity to respond to a questionnaire and then claim that the candidate refused to respond.

OK, for the record, since apparently I’m being accused of something nefarious here:

The Clement for County Board Website’s Contact Information Section:

My Emails:

@mstone 125573 wrote:

before going too far down this path it would be nice to know if the poster is actually related to the candidate. I could just as easily claim to be Audrey Clement on the internet…

It’s her. I was sent the same survey responses via a hotmail address that I have verified is hers.